Anthony Westbury: Paying for education is a taxing question

Most of us claim to put a high value on a great education system. Yet are we prepared to pay higher taxes for it? The St. Lucie County School District is about to find out with a voter referendum scheduled for March 19.

The district is proposing county property owners pay an extra $1 per $1,000 of assessed property value for four years to help ease a $17 million budget shortfall and to allow district staff to get a pay raise in 2013-14.

Yet bringing the issue to the ballot in a special election is fraught with questions: What is the referendum's chance of success during a time of lingering recession and high unemployment? Would a "yes' vote solve the district's shortfall anyway? And why didn't the district allow more time to "educate" voters on the merits of the proposal?

If approved, the new tax would bring in an estimated $15 million over four years. Yet that doesn't cover even half of the bills coming due. Along with the $17 million shortfall, teachers' union negotiators have asked for another $20 million in salary increases.

Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon said he wants 50 percent of the tax proceeds to go to salaries and half to bridging the budget gap, yet he acknowledged the 1-mill tax hike (the maximum allowed) won't solve the problem.

"Yes, even if it is approved, we will still be very short," Lannon acknowledged this week. "About 84 percent of the district's costs are in salaries, so closing schools and moving kids and faculty to other locations wouldn't

save very much." He noted that state class-size mandates restrict how many teaching jobs could be eliminated.

"We've been warning about this for two years," Lannon said. "We had a five-year plan using our reserves to carry us through, but it's gone beyond that. St. Lucie County has been hit very deeply (by property value decreases), and we've lost 40 percent of our budget through that."

Vicki Rodriguez of the Classroom Teachers Association is skeptical about some of those numbers. She said her union members would be willing to support raising taxes only if all other "streamlining" measures have been eliminated. She claims there should have been a lot more discussion about possible transportation savings, school consolidations and other measures before resorting to a referendum.

Rodriguez said only two similar tax-hike votes in Florida this year have succeeded. That was true in Seminole County, east of Orlando, where the measure passed with a 56 percent "yes" vote. Yet right next door, the vote in Volusia County (Daytona) was "no" by less than 1,000 votes.

Volusia Superintendent Robert Moll said his district is facing a $25 million budget gap for the 2013-14 school year. Without the tax increase, he said, coming cuts probably would be a combination of cutting personnel, some programs (such as advanced placement and elective classes), and perhaps consolidating schools. He noted Volusia already has 10 small elementary schools supervised by one principal.

I've been mystified why the St. Lucie district has taken so long to come to the realization that a tax hike is the only way around its problems, and that the administration is devoting only about 90 days to educate voters about the measure's merits. That seems woefully short notice to sell something that's likely to be pretty unpopular among voters still reeling from high unemployment rates or few wage increases.

Lannon said "if the union's not 100 percent onboard with this, it's dead before we start. If they don't believe in it, why should voters?"

The union's lukewarm reaction to the referendum might be because it's happening during some very contentious pay negotiations. As the union's Rodriguez reasoned, "Why would they be seeking our support while poking us in the eye with a stick (over salary talks)?"

Lannon sees the two issues as separate, claiming the referendum tries to remedy a revenue problem that exists aside from teacher salaries. In many ways, he's correct. We wouldn't be in this situation were it not for the drastic losses in tax revenue after the housing bust. Only if property values show some real recovery in the future will we be able to solve the revenue shortfall conundrum.

I also agree in part with the union that insufficient attention has been paid to reducing costs elsewhere in the district. The referendum, even if it is successful — and it already has a giant question mark hanging over it — won't cover even half of the shortfall, let alone any teacher pay increases. We're likely to need fairly draconian cuts anyway, whichever way the vote goes.

And I am critical that the district hasn't allowed enough time to convince those going to the polls that this is the best solution. Perhaps it's no accident that Seminole County used former Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy to head up its successful tax increase push, while Volusia County didn't follow a similar path.

In the end, it will all come down to one central question: What price education?

I guess we'll find out in March.

Anthony Westbury is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. This column reflects his opinion. Contact him at 772-409-1320 or anthony.westbury@scripps.com.